A few minutes earlier…

"C.H.O.P., I can't thank you enough for helping us out on such short notice" Professor Moshimo said to the control panel of his temporal vehicle.

"No problem at all" replied the digital, yet surprisingly warm and friendly voice of the control panel. "Anything for Robotboy, the only real friend I've ever had. I'm only sorry I'm not in a better shape, or I could've flown us here faster. But ever since my contract with Lance Chestwax was terminated, I've had difficulty getting regular maintenance."

"Never again, C.H.O.P., I promise. My assistants and I will see to you from now on." The professor assured him.

But deep down, Moshimo was sorry he didn't have the chance to prepare himself better. Robotboy had insisted on taking the energy additive and be on his way, even though the professor had really wanted him to finish charging first, ignoring his warning that absorbing the additive without being fully charged could lead to him suddenly running out of juice. In despair, he told Robotboy to use the supernova function that only the additive would allow him to, but only if he was at an open place with no organic beings around. The supernova might have enough power to stop Protoboy, but it would kill any bystanders instantly.

The professor could only hope that Robotboy would use his powers with this much care, and that it would suffice. His assistants were not available on such short notice, and the only other fighting robots he could muster at such a short notice...

"What did you call this, Gus?"

"Benjamin called it Emil-E" Gus replied. "He says Bessie built it based on various prototypes from her early scouting days."

Moshimo studied the stout construction in front of him. "Your friend built robot prototypes when she was in the girl scouts? She must be quite the prodigy."

Gus shrugged. "Eh. She's pretty smart. And she's still in the girl scouts, you couldn't drag her away. Anyway, Ben insisted we bring her robot along."

"So it could save her creator?"

"Actually, Emil-E just makes him jumpy He doesn't trust that thing without Bessie around."

And a t least they had other powerhouse to help them out as well…

"Ook ook!"

"We're getting there as fast as we can, Ludwig." The professor assured the combat-clad orangutan.

"Professor?" the voice of their vehicle interrupted. "We are about to land. And while it's probably nothing, but I noticed that we suddenly lost some weight when I was trying to find a landing ramp…"

~ O ~

"You do know that Moshimo has hired assistants?" Tommy butted in.

"I do, and when Moshimo is out of the way, I will give them the offer of working for me exclusively, or not working at all. Or breathing. That goes for you as well, Tommy. I know you're next in line for an internship at Moshimo's lab. As soon as I've monopolized the world's robot production, I will get a jump start on the production of robots for commercial purposes. With a robot in every home, I will have the opportunity to control whomever I prefer for my own -"

Bjorn's speech was interrupted by a blunt sound. For a moment, he gaped stupidly at his audience before he fell to the floor, revealing the figure of a blonde, lanky teenage girl with a frying pan standing right behind him.

"That" she said determinedly, "was for threatening my brother's life!"

Everyone present, except for Brian, gaped, but none more so than Lola and Robyn.

"Dee Dee?" Lola shouted.

"I know what she's talking about." Robyn explained. "Her brother has been one of the professor's interns for the last six months. He is very young, but it's remarkable, some of the things he's already –"

"Never mind that!" Tommy interrupted her. "How did she even get there?"

"I hitched a ride with the professor." Dee Dee explained.

"The professor gave you a lift?" Robyn asked.

Dee Dee hesitated, looking a little bothered. "Weeelll…let's just say that I hitched a ride."

"I don't think anyone cares if you were a stowaway right now" Tommy commented. "The important thing is that the professor is here. Can you take us to him, Dee Dee?"

The girl hesitated. "Well, to be honest, I didn't pay much attention to –" as if to exemplify this last statement, Dee Dee was suddenly hit from the side by a swift front kick, causing her to fall sideways, groaning in pain.

"No trashy meeddel Americaine schoolgirl ees going to spoil this for me!"

"Princess Justine!" Tommy and Lola shouted in unison.

Dee Dee tried to get up, but Justine grabbed her arm quickly and slammed her against a wall.

"So she does know kung fu", Adhabu commented with a faint smile. "Only basic moves, from what I can see, and I would have put her out cold within sixty seconds, but still..she has some potential."

Justine studied her battered opponent sliding down on the floor. For a few seconds, she looked as if she was going to kick her a few times, just out of spite, but then she thought better of it. The Princess turned to address the crowd of enemies and dubious allies:

"You might theenk you 'ave us cornered because the aircrafts 'ave been destroyed!", she began. "But you would be wrong. I've called for a private jet from the Fredonian embassy in Mexico, no questions asked." She went over to Bjorn, who was showing signs of regaining consciousness. "Then we can be off, cherie", she said tenderly to Bjorn.

Something just occurred to Tommy.

"Justine!" he shouted "I came here with Klaus…actually we were dragged here…you wouldn't happen to know here he is?"

The platinum blond princess smiled. "In my custody. I already 'ad 'im roughed up a leetle, but I promeesed father to keep him alive long enough for 'eem to 'ave 'ees punishment delivered on Fredonian soil. Afoncügel shall pay dearly for the humiliation 'ee caused us – what?" Justine suddenly noticed that her audience wasn't looking right at her or Bjorn, but rather above them.

The last sound Justine heard before she had an enormous, hairy fist pressed against her face was:

"Oook!"

"I think what they were trying to tell you…" said Gus smugly, "…was, look behind you!"

As the redheaded boy stepped forward, Tommy and Lola noticed he was supporting a badly battered Klaus von Afoncügel.

"Ah gut, you made it." The German billionaire muttered upon seeing Tommy.

"Never mind me, how are you doing?"

"I'm…I'm remembering what it used to be like to be so weak." He groaned. "It was bad, really bad."

"Well, it'll be bad if you let Ludwig go on like that, too." Lola observed. The orangutan bodyguard was currently throwing around Justine, who kept screaming in terror.

"Ach, well personally I would've liked for Ludwig to roughen her up the way she did to me, but for you Kinder, I'll do the right thing…"

"Princess Justine, huh?" Gus commented. "Haven't seen her in years. What was she doing here anyway?"

Lola scratched her head "Well, as far as I could tell, she's Bjorn's girlfriend."

Gus rolled his eyes. "First the Professor and Mui-Mui, then you guys –" he pointed at Tommy and Lola – "and now this. Sheesh, seems like robot engineers gets all the hot babes!"

Just then, Bessie came riding on her own, admittedly crudely assembled, robot.

"Gus!" she exclaimed excitedly. "You brought Emil-E to rescue me!"

He smiled, and muttered to himself: "But maybe it goes both ways…"

~O~

From their holding cell, Dwight and Debbie Turnbull could hear noises, but they had no way of telling what they meant, or if their son was involved in any way. Both of them - but Debbie in particular - were at the edge of their seat with anxiety at the point of time when the door suddenly opened, and a friendly-looking, elderly Asian man in a labcoat entered.

"Mr. and Mrs. Turnbull!" he exclaimed happily. "I cannot tell what a great relief this is! My name is Keiichi Moshimo. Please come with me, we need to -"

"Moshimo!" Debbie yelled. The very mention of the name seemed to detonate a fuse within Debbie. She immediately began to slap the professor repeatedly while shouting random abuse and threats:

"You! You're the one who's put my son through all of this! You're the reason why we've all been through this! I only just found out how many times my son's been in mortal danger since he was ten, and it's all because of your mad Frankenstein experiments! What made you think it was a good idea to leave a superweapon in the hands of a child you sick, mad, perverted, freaky –"

Moshimo was already pretty badly battered by the time Dwight Turnbull had the courage to intervene and try and restrain his infuriated wife.

"I'm sorry about this, sir, but when Debbie gets worked up –" he began.

"It¨s okay, I guess I deserved it" the professor responded. "Ambassador Mbola reacted about the same way when I told him. Well, admittedly he didn't get quite this physical –"

"Mbola!" Debbie cried. "He knew and he didn't tell us?"

"Well he only found out recently…"

"And when were you planning on telling us?"

"Madame, please, Robotboy has not even been living with Tommy for quite a few months now. I didn't think you were in any danger…"

"No danger? A mad robot and a sumo wrestling thug just broke into our home –"

She was about to begin another physical attack on the professor when she was interrupted by a calm, deep voice:

"Believe me, Debbie, there was a time when I would be only too happy to help you putting fingerprints on the professor's face. Maybe even on his neck…"

Debbie Turnbull temporarily halted, and turned around. "Mr. Mbola, sir – "

"One of these days, Debbie, I'm going to throw you off that 'Mr. Mbola' habit. It's Kingsley to you. To the both of you."

He sat down and continued. "We're no longer in any hurry, by the way. Like I said, I was indeed very upset with the professor, as upset as you are right now. But it got complicated. I don't know if young Bjornson told you, but Robyn is also one of the professor's creations. And I could not very well get rid of her; my wife would never forgive me."

"Your current wife." Debbie added sharply.

"Ahem, so Bjornson told you several things..."

"Your former wife told me quite a few things, too" Debbie clarified. "Charming woman."

"Please, we can talk about her later?", the ambassador said uneasily. "My point is, either way I looked at it, I was involved. Moshimo's creations were a part of my life as well. So I decided to make the best out of it. See, I have a secret dream…"

"And what would that be?" Dwight hurriedly asked, mostly because he thought his wife had been dominating the conversation too long

"I've always wanted to produce the first commercially successful automobile ever to originate from an African nation. Diamonds may be forever, but sooner or later, even the Mbola diamond mines will be emptied. I need ideas for the future. My financial advisors keep telling me that breaking into the car industry is not a realistic goal, unless we can get access to superior technology. With the aid of the professor, this goal is now within reach…"

"Save it for the investors!" Debbie snapped "Do as you please, am...Kingsley, but as soon as we find Tommy, he's out of the professors's life!"

"That would be a waste of talent" Moshimo commented. "He has a bright future in robot technology, if you'd only let him -"

Debbie gave the professor a scowl. "Give us one good reason why we should allow Tommy to continue getting involved."

Mbola got up, and said with a smile: "How about a college scholarship?"

Debbie and Dwight looked at each other.

"Keep talking", they said in unison.

TBC